Week of 3/11/13

A ridiculous pointTo the editor: The incident at Clay High School on Feb. 1 has reached a ridiculous point when P.J. Kapfhammer is require to appear in court.

He deserves thanks for being aware of the safety of student athletes in requesting the identity of a man, unknown to him, wandering among them. Fault lies with Mr. Brachowski for turning his head away when questioned about his presence. It seems that he is mistaking a privilege as entitlement. His mother’s overreaction to this easily-explained situation and the increasing persecution of Kapfhammer can only reinforce his attitude.

Hopefully, the treatment of Kapfhammer will not deter others from being aware of potential dangers to young people and taking action when necessary. It is preferable to risk upsetting someone rather than to feel the guilt of not preventing a tragedy.Joyce ShelleyOregon

A hasty decisionTo the editor: I would like to say kudos to Donald Shaffer on his letter to the editor, “Lighten up.”

I too think the Lake Township Trustees made too fast of a decision in accepting the resignations of the Lake Township firefighters and the fire chief.

The years, dedication and hard work the three have given to the township should have made their decision less excessive.

I have been a lifelong resident of Lake Township and know the honor and dedication our volunteers give to our township. That’s what makes our fire department one of the best around.

Not only did the trustees not protect Lake Township, Millbury and the fire department by accepting those resignations, they weakened them.Tim SchwambergerLake Township

A regressive taxTo the editor: Once again, our Republican governor is playing us for suckers. He is claiming to lower our income tax so he can give big breaks to the companies and make us pay for it. Remember when Robert Taft gave big tax breaks to the companies which were supposed to bring many jobs? It never happened.

Now our Republican governor is making the same claims. Sales tax is one of the most regressive taxes; it puts the whole burden of running government on the people and relieves the rich and corporations. It is really a big tax hike for the people and another giveaway to the companies. If you didn’t notice, we had five bond issues this last time because funding was cut from schools and mental health.

This will take even more money out of the economy and give people less to spend. Already, our cash-strapped schools are bracing for more cuts under the guise of running more efficiently. Albert KapustarOregon

Saturday delivery valuableTo the editor: I read the Press Poll and found that 90 percent of your readers would be affected by no Saturday mail delivery. We need to let our Representatives and Senators know that we do value having Saturday delivery.

I urge everyone to write to their district offices and ask their Representative to support HR 30 and Sen. Portman to support SB 316. Then write to Sen. Brown and thank him for being a co-sponsor of SB 316.

These bills would protect six-day delivery and fix the immediate fiscal problems of the Post Office by ending the pre-funding of 75 years of future postal employees’ health benefits in 10 years. The Post Office services every address in the United States six days a week. It is affordable – in fact, the cheapest postage rate in the world and a universal service for all.

It is so nice to hear from a family member or friend in letter form. Remember looking forward to the birthday card from Grandma with $20 inside?

I have been reading about concerns about the possibility of cyber attacks. I’ve read that some banks have spent millions shoring up their security because of compromises to their systems. What would we do if we had all our information deleted or stolen? The Post Office has everything in place to continue communication if that were to happen.

Please write today.Joyce BowerGibsonburg

Resignations warrantedTo the editor: When the Lake Township Trustees first became aware of the alleged incidents of Feb. 9th involving two firefighters and a police officer, the following action occurred. An investigation was started by the police chief and the deputy fire chief because it appeared at the time that the fire chief may have had some involvement in the alleged incidents.

Trustee Ron Sims was advised not to be involved in any of the investigation and to recuse himself from any and all actions taken coming out of the investigations.

The investigation was conducted following the procedures outlined by law and the rules and regulations of the Lake Township Fire Department. Once the pertinent facts were ascertained, the two firefighters were interviewed by the deputy fire chief, who outlined the issues to them. The township’s legal counsel interviewed the fire chief.

The three were entitled under the law to due process; they instead chose to accept responsibility for their actions and tendered their resignations to the trustees for acceptance, which we did at a special meeting called by me Feb. 21.

In regards to the secondary issue of the police officer involved, under the O.P.B.O contract, the police chief is responsible for any and all discipline under Section 14 of the contract and that issue has been handled by the police chief.

I do believe that the former chief was an outstanding fire chief for the township and a true hero of June 5, 2010. The response of safety service personnel during the tornado was heroic and done following standard emergency protocols – the actions taken on Feb. 9 were not and therein lies the problem.

Good deeds of the past do not justify complacency of the rules and regulations that govern societal behavior of the present. Medical standards and practices are vital and exist to protect everyone. Given the pertinent facts, serious action was warranted by the trustees. It may seem a harsh decision but it was the right decision under the law which was in the best interest of the whole community and the integrity of the Lake Township Fire Department.Richard WellingLake Township Trustee